Moreno's 100th Goal Kicks Off United Barrage

United 5, Crew 1

It just seemed so unfair. A few minutes into D.C. United's 5-1 victory over the Columbus Crew last night before 11,725 at RFK Stadium, Jaime Moreno stepped up to attempt a penalty kick, which, if successful, would make him the second player in MLS history to score 100 goals.

Twelve yards away stood Dan Popik, who had not played an MLS game in two years and had turned his attention to college coaching until the injury-depleted Crew called last week.

As expected, Moreno scored without a bit of difficulty, the beginning of an impressive session of attacking soccer by United, which stretched its unbeaten streak to four and matched Dallas for the best record in the league (6-1-3).

Columbus (3-4-2) tied it before halftime, but Popik was overwhelmed in the second half by an own goal, Josh Gros's simple put-away, Alecko Eskandarian's partial breakaway and reserve Lucio Filomeno's first goal of the year.

"You can see we create like three, four good chances in the first three minutes" after intermission, Coach Peter Nowak said. "The energy level was very good, we got the goal and we still kept playing."

The second-half uprising was spurred by what Nowak said in the locker room during halftime: absolutely nothing.

"He was in here but he didn't say anything -- we pretty much knew what we needed to do," midfielder Brian Carroll said. "Peter didn't have to step in or yell at us. Everyone said what needed to be said, we came out with a stronger mentality and a smarter approach to the game, and we got goals."

Lots of goals -- the most by United since last August and enough to match the worst loss in Crew history.

Columbus's goalkeeping misery certainly was a factor.

Starter Jon Busch tore a knee ligament against United 11 days ago and was lost for the year; veteran Jonny Walker had already been ruled out for the season with a back injury; and Bill Gaudette, in his second year, and rookie Andy Gruenebaum are not available because each has a broken hand.

So the Crew scrambled to acquire former Maryland Terrapin Noah Palmer (no career appearances) from Real Salt Lake and signed Popik, 27, who had played a total of 61 minutes in 2003-04 for Los Angeles, was not on an MLS roster last season and had become the goalkeepers coach for North Carolina State.

Eight minutes into his return, Popik allowed Moreno's penalty kick. Moreno had slotted the ball through to Eskandarian, who ran onto it just inside the box and was taken down by the charging goalie. As Popik lunged the other way, Moreno slid the penalty kick into the lower right corner for his team-best sixth strike of the year.